(Credit: © Mark Allan)

The Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition has announced the 20 young conductors selected for the 18th edition.

The event will take place Dec. 2–4, 2o25 at LSO St Luke’s in London. Now in its 35th year, the biennial competition awards a £15,000 prize from Donatella Flick and offers the winner the opportunity to serve as Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for up to one year.

This year’s finalists include Felix Benati, Sieva Borzak, Jooyoung Chang, Giovanni Conti, Riley Court-Wood, Matteo Dal Maso, Nina Haug, Daniel Hogan, Piotr Jaworski, Maria Keller, Leonhard Kreutzmann, Julia Kurzydlak, Kingsley Lin, Jacob Niemann, Alison Norris, Friedrich Praetorius, Roman Reshetkin, Matthew Rhodes, Konstantinos Terzakis, and Andreas van Tol.

Sir Antonio Pappano chairs the 2025 jury, joined by Sir James MacMillan, Sian Edwards, Thomas Søndergård, and LSO musicians Sarah Quinn and Rachel Gough.

“I’m delighted to announce the young conductors who will be participating in this year’s Competition. These incredible musicians are some of the most talented in Europe and I’m excited to be able to see them in action later in the year, and to give them the opportunity to work with the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra and our esteemed jury. I wish all the conductors the best of luck for the Competition and I look forward to meeting them in London in December,” said Competition Founder Donatella Flick, per an official press release.

Repertoire for the 2025 competition is assigned by round. The Quarter-final on Dec. 2 features Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, and Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra. The Semi-final on Dec. 3 includes Strauss’s Oboe Concerto, Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 2, MacMillan’s Symphony No. 2, and Beamish’s “The Day Dawn.” The Final on Dec. 4 features Verdi’s “I Vespri Siciliani” Overture, Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 (movements 1, 2, and 4), and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” (nos. 1, 2, and 4).

For the first time, the competition will be filmed for “Making A Maestro,” a new Sky Arts series airing in 2026. Produced by Love Monday, the series will follow the competitors and jury through all rounds, with the winner revealed in the final episode. “Making A Maestro” premieres on Sky Arts and NOW in spring 2026.

 Read Related Stories